There is so much contrast on this level - first you're being stunned by the silence and a large amounts of space after the narrow corridors of KRAN, full of close combat frenzy... then you suddenly face a Titan! (At least, it was sudden for me ) And another titan!.and then another more!.. So, I think Spire Village is a good hub level both relaxing and keeping the player from falling asleep...Also, I always liked the feeling of something greater to come ...that refers to the Sunspire itself, waiting ahead.

This takes the "Titans everywhere" thing from Trench, and creates more "oh shit" moments as a result. Outside of that it's nice short transition level that does it's job and establishes a pretty atmospheric setting (again like Tench). I also like how the teleport from the ISV-Kran doesn't break the sense of a coherent journey too much because you can see where you came from.

Spire Village is really grand for a transition map, gotta say. Having the ISV-Kran on one side and the spire on the other... Back in the day, this really had awesome scale.

I do remember the Titans coming off as a surprise, but what really troubled me the first time round was the exit: I spent, like, 10 minutes wondering how I could get through that gate, even running back to the village to check whether I hadn't missed something (no joke)! Felt thoroughly silly when I figured it out...

It's the first night time map too, which helped define its identity for me.

Nali: Magic or Telekinesis

Waffnuffly wrote:It's tarydium-doped smoothies. Drunk by the player, I mean. The player is tripping balls. The whole game actually takes place in a large city and the player thinks he's on an alien world.